Dr. Euler's Fabulous Formula Cures Many Mathematical Ills

Paul J. Nahin

380 pages, parution le 17/05/2006

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Résumé

In the mid-eighteenth century, Swiss-born mathematician Leonhard Euler developed a formula so innovative and complex that it continues to inspire research, discussion, and even the occasional limerick. Dr. Euler's Fabulous Formula shares the fascinating story of this groundbreaking formula--long regarded as the gold standard for mathematical beauty--and shows why it still lies at the heart of complex number theory.

This book is the sequel to Paul Nahin's An Imaginary Tale: The Story of I [the square root of -1], which chronicled the events leading up to the discovery of one of mathematics' most elusive numbers, the square root of minus one. Unlike the earlier book, which devoted a significant amount of space to the historical development of complex numbers, Dr. Euler begins with discussions of many sophisticated applications of complex numbers in pure and applied mathematics, and to electronic technology. The topics covered span a huge range, from a never-before-told tale of an encounter between the famous mathematician G. H. Hardy and the physicist Arthur Schuster, to a discussion of the theoretical basis for single-sideband AM radio, to the design of chase-and-escape problems.

The book is accessible to any reader with the equivalent of the first two years of college mathematics (calculus and differential equations), and it promises to inspire new applications for years to come. Or as Nahin writes in the book's preface: To mathematicians ten thousand years hence, "Euler's formula will still be beautiful and stunning and untarnished by time."

L'auteur - Paul J. Nahin

Paul J. Nahin is Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering at the University of New Hampshire. He is the author of Duelling Idiots and Other Probability Puzzlers, When Least Is Best: How Mathematicians Discovered Many Clever Ways to Make Things as Small (or as Large) as Possible, and An Imaginary Tale: The Story of I [the square root of -1] (all Princeton).

Sommaire

What This Book Is About, What You Need to Know to Read It, and WHY You Should Read It
Preface
Introduction
Complex Numbers
Vector Trips
The Irrationality of π²
Fourier Series
Fourier Integrals
Electronics and √-1
Euler: The Man and the Mathematical Physicist
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index

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Caractéristiques techniques

	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	Princeton University Press
Auteur(s)	Paul J. Nahin
Parution	17/05/2006
Nb. de pages	380
Format	16 x 24
Couverture	Relié
Poids	730g
Intérieur	Noir et Blanc
EAN13	9780691118222